We Celebrate a Doggie Milestone With a Trip To the Mountains Fitz Roy passed a recent milestone in his career as a dog when he graduated from Beginner Dog Education. He is now a fully certified dog! Of course, Fitz already knew how to be a dog. Trying to act like a GOOD dog around human and other dogs has […]
Fitz Roy Rocks the Beacon
Fall Expedition: Beacon Heights and the Blue Ridge Parkway Sylvia and Brian can be found in the Blue Ridge Mountains virtually every fall, and have been since 2009. We have been trying to remember what year it was we saw the last fall color show worth mentioning. Best we can recollect it was probably 2015. We missed most of the […]
Hike to the Cliffs of Looking Glass Rock, Brevard NC
Through the Looking Glass: Looking Glass Rock ***SUMMER RE-RUNS: Brian and Sylvia are currently off having new adventures. In the meantime, please enjoy this re-post from Spring 2018*** * Looking Glass Rock is one of Becauseitzthere’s Top Ten Hikes in the Southern Appalachians V 1.0. It is also a featured Best Hike Near Asheville (it is less than an hour […]
Waterfalled and Waterlogged: Dark Hollow Falls and the AT
The Great Shenandoah Trip Part II During the first night of our trip to the Shenandoah NP it rained. Quite intensely. Brian has been through several terrible storms in his tent, the worst probably being an absolutely petrifying thunderstorm in Canyonlands NP in 2007 or so. This night was no where near as bad as that one, but it was […]
The Great Valley
The Great Shenandoah Trip Part I Sometimes a bit of serendipity falls upon one disguised as bad luck. For example…Last week we were supposed to go away for a weekend trip, which would have been the subject of this blog post. Unfortunately, Sylvia’s business commitments prevented this from happening. In search of something to write about, site Editor Brian found […]
The Incredible Shrinking (and Late Arriving Fall) Color Show
Higher Temps and More Rain, Humidity Mean a Later Onset of Autumn How did this year’s fall color display in the Appalachian Mountains compare with those of years past? The short answer, at least when we were there to experience it, is…not that well. For the second straight year, fall colors came late to the Carolinas. Another year of record […]
The Great Fall Color Chase Part III
Fall 2018…The more the water the better the fall! We continued our adventures along the high country of the Blue Ridge Parkway for a second day in search of Fall Colors. Alas, the weather outlook did not look promising. The forecast was for rain over much of the Blue Ridge, and the first thing that greeted us out of our […]
The Great Fall Color Chase Part II
Aim high! Fall Trip to the Blue Ridge Some mourn the passing of summer, but not us. We love being in the mountains, and there is no better time to be in the mountains than Fall. Summer is an overrated time of year in our opinion, especially in the Southeastern US…hot, humid, buggy, crowded and prone to frequent and often […]
The Great Fall Color Chase Part I
The Quest for Fall…Adventures with Mikey! (The events described here have been compressed from two weekends spent in Western NC with nephew Mikey from Texas. Since then Mikey has vanished; he was last seen downloading “Red Dead: Redemption 2” for the PS4, aka ‘that thar consarned infernal contraption!’) Fall is out favorite season in the mountains. Every year Sylvia and […]
A Not So Crabby Waterfall
Waterfall Week II: Crabtree Falls, NC **DISCLAIMER: While all of the waterfalls featured here on Becauseitzthere can be safely hiked and enjoyed, be aware that there is GREAT RISK involved in venturing off trail near ANY of the waterfalls described here. We advise you to HIKE SAFELY. Please remember that you are responsible for your own safety on the trail. […]